


Vampires Are A Bat's Best Friend

by Kimchi (KumaMusical)



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Bats, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 18:53:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19707382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KumaMusical/pseuds/Kimchi
Summary: A little bit of sibling rivalry, pranks and arguing, has never hurt them. Maybe Rei's overreacted and put his hand into his desk once or twice though. Accidents happen, the old man falls down, it's whatever.





	Vampires Are A Bat's Best Friend

Rei slumped forward onto the table he and Koga were sitting at, groaning about this and that, the sunlight, the heat, Kaoru not coming to unit activities, these among other things that only Koga would understand. But the main focus of his old man like grumbling today… 

“Listen to this old man’s story, will you? My dear, precious Ritsu has been pulling pranks on me all week. He’s absolutely merciless!” Yes, the problem plaguing him, unsurprisingly, is Ritsu. Though it’s no secret the two don’t exactly get along, it would seem something had recently irked Ritsu to the point of terrorizing his brother in the pettiest ways he could imagine. 

“Haah? That’s what was so important I had to drag you to this cafe to talk about right after a live? You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s Ritchii we’re talking about, he’s got about as much energy as you do.” 

“Wanko, as his classmate surely you know we’re nocturnal creatures, cursed to live under moonlight unlike you as a human, who can live under the sun. He’s truthfully young and energetic, and this old man can’t keep up with him.” He sighed theatrically, sitting up to put an arm over his eyes. “Oh where have the days gone! He’s so rebellious now!” 

* * *

  
  


“Ritchan, you seem pretty energetic lately. Did something good happen?” Mao attempted to make conversation after class, sitting backwards in a chair to face Ritsu’s desk, of which the latter slumped himself on to nap the day away as usual. To anyone else Ritsu seemed the same as always, tired and lethargic and practically dragged to school on his best friend’s back. Of course only said best friend would be able to immediately spot his subtle change in demeanor. Ritsu raised his head to look at him, smiling languidly.

“Ahh, actually something good is going on. I bought a box of fake bats recently.” 

“A box of bats?”

“Yeah, a box of bats. Something like 30 of them.” 

“Wh… What are you gonna do with 30 bats?” In response Ritsu simply smiled wider, a mischievous look Mao hadn’t seen in a while. 

* * *

  
  


“He’s put bats in all of my things!” Rei, uncharacteristically animated for a Thursday afternoon, continued to voice his brotherly woes to he increasingly annoyed Koga. 

“I woke up to find one  _ inside _ my coffin earlier! How could I not have noticed it before I got in? And when I went to put my uniform on today, there was a bat stuck inside the sleeve. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.” As he recounted this, Koga only stared in shock. 

“Wait, you’re tellin’ me that this is all about some  _ plastic bats _ , and the big problem is he’s hiding them in your things?” Rei continued to sob theatrically, drawing a groan from his companion. 

“After all that I do for him, all these years I’ve loved and supported him, and this, _THIS_ is how I’m repaid? Oh Ritsu! My dear Ritsu! How could he do such a thing to his dear older brother?”  
“Ah shut up already! It’s just a couple fake bats!”

  
  


* * *

“You put them in his uniform!?” Ritsu laughed at Mao’s reaction, more awake than the rest of the class had ever seen him. “Ricchan you might  _ actually _ kill him with this!” Despite his reprimands, Mao laughed along with him.  
  


* * *

The creak of a door interrupted Rei’s immersion, when he looked towards the sound he was greeted by a single glowing red eye peeking into his room, illuminated by his reading lamp. He fought the urge to shudder at the sight as he lowered his book and took off his glasses. 

“Ritsu, what brings you to my room? It’s been such a long time since you visited me like this, I’m so happy~” Ritsu entered slowly, eyes shifting like he was observing a foreign space rather than his own sibling’s bedroom. 

“Well, Ma-kun said I should apologise for the bat thing, and I guess I felt a little bit bad about it. So I came to do that.” Appearing by all means as sincere as he was shy about the act, Ritsu shuffled awkwardly closer to Rei, whose expression lit up like fireworks. He stood and held his arms out, silently praying that Ritsu would accept his embrace. To his surprise and overwhelming joy Ritsu did accept, and even smiled when he wrapped his arms around his older brother. 

“Oh my dear Ritsu, this old man is so happy you’ve come back around to--” An odd sensation accompanied the pat of Ritsu’s hands on his back. He realized that something about this hug, maybe this entire interaction, was very off. Had he been blinded by his happiness? Why would Ritsu suddenly want to apologise for annoying him, and most importantly why would he consent to a hug so suddenly when he’d been actively avoiding Rei until this morning? This is definitely…   
“Ritsu! What’re you doing?”

“Ah, Ma-kun! I’m coming~” As Ritsu let go, a mischievous grin caught Rei’s eye. He reached back and, thankfully, felt nothing connected to his shirt. Relieved he turned to grab his book before sitting down, his hand meeting not with the paper he was expecting but rather with a smooth wing. He screamed and swatted the plastic bat across the room towards his younger brother, who seemed to have been waiting for that exact moment. He caught the bat and slipped out of the room, laughing hysterically down the hall into his own room. The older boy stood frozen in front of his desk, hand clutched desperately against his chest. 

Ristu made it back into his own room, still laughing. Mao looked up quizzically. 

“Ma-kun, think fast~” He tossed the bat at his friend as he closed the door. When he sat down, Ritsu leaned close to Mao and whispered, “Wait three seconds, something funny is gonna happen.” Before Mao could question him, another scream, muffled through the walls, resounded throughout the house. Both boys muffled their laughter as footsteps approached the door. It swung open violently, hitting the wall with a loud bang. Rei pitched a plastic bat at them, immediately turning around to face the dark hallway. 

“If I find another one of these--”

“You might want to check your bed tonight.” Ritsu and Mao said in unison.

“... Have a good night, Ritsu, Isara-kun.” With those parting words Rei calmly closed the door behind him and retreated to his room, the two younger boys’ laughing following behind him like a sitcom laugh track, mocking the sleepless days that were sure to come. Maybe, he thought, I should stop giving the bats back. Eventually Ritsu would run out and their peaceful days would resume, right? Rei promised himself as he entered his room again, from this moment on, he will collect any and all bats left in his presence, and once he was sure he had them all they would be disposed of and no longer would he have to live in fear of being attacked again. As he carefully peeled back the blankets in his bed, Ritsu and Mao continued to laugh down the hall. Ah youth, what he would give to be young and carefree again. 

  
  


BONUS

“How many bats do you have left?” Mao dumped the box out on Ritsu’s floor, counting as he pulled them out. Ritsu counted on his fingers, mumbling to himself, recounting all the incidents he’d incited during the week. 

“I only hid 12 of them I think, and he’s found like 8, and for some reason I keep getting them back so,” e counted on his fingers again, “I’ve got 24 left. Do you have an idea?” Mao sat in thought for a minute, then reached into his bag and pulled out a wad of string. 

“Actually, I do. You want to make your hallway into a bat cave tonight?” The boys smiled at each other with expressions that were surely foreign to anybody else. Night dwelling creatures, vampires and bats alike, share a common trait. They’re scariest in the dark. 

**Author's Note:**

> My friend put in our group chat a few days ago, "I find it hilarious that Rei is afraid of bats" and I then proceeded to spiral out of control because that's a fact I hadn't known.


End file.
